Jason Fernandez and I spent time going over the best practices with apparel for gyms of all sizes. If you find yourself stuck and directionless with the apparel process, this podcast will help. He shares his story and how we turned things around for CrossFit Rife.

“Wow! All these cool items my members will be sure to love! On top of that, a nice website to go with it! This will be a slam dunk!”

With the rise of the web site service offering comes a nice shiny new toy to distract clients. While these services and web sites may seem like a no brainer, clients who use web stores see a reduction in apparel sales by about 20-30% per order. This is significant and this is a major problem.

How can we fix it?

To tackle it, we need to examine a key reason why people buy apparel from their favorite business in the first place: an opportunity to promote and “rep their tribe”.

While they are in the gym, you have their undivided attention. Think about how rare and powerful that is in this day and age. To have someone’s attention for about an hour 3-5 times a week is one of the most unique advantages a fitness business has today. It is the perfect sales environment. It’s low stress, it’s supportive, and it is an opportunity for them to thank you for all your hard work. You want people to have opportunities to “join your team”. Offering apparel officially invites people join the team as an initiation of some sort.

Now, if we give members a link, they have to purchase this item “when they get home”… the issue is really this…when people leave the gym, all hell breaks loose. So while they had great intentions to buy the new hoodie you just released, they totally forgot because they had a million other things on their brain after they left the gym. The next day rolls around and wash, rinse, and repeat. Same thing. While they wanted to buy one, they simply forgot. Every time they went to log on, something got in the way. Then when everything lands, they ask if you bought any extras. You probably didn’t in their size. And now you have an unhappy member for something that absolutely is not your fault.

The issue isn’t the design or the style tank top or the amount of options you offered. The issue is simply attention span and driving demand. If you can make the most of someone’s attention span, you will a huge uptick in retail sales.

There's a first time for everything! If this is your first time working with us, let's give you some direction and best practices to ensure a smooth ordering process.

Before we send you a mock up: We need some direction. Your sales rep will provide you with a portfolio of our best selling designs of all time. We are constantly working on new and fresh designs. All the designs you see from us are fully customizable for your business. Whether that is garment styles, art colors, or garment color- we can customize everything! If you have your own idea that you would like us make come to life, just send us over the idea and we'll do our best!

After you receive the mock up: What should you do after you receive the mock up? Check it out and let it simmer for a few hours. Quick feedback is usually the worst feedback. So try and avoid giving us your first impression. Get it a half or day or so to settle. Then send us your feedback or edits. This sounds weird and yes we love to move fast and get stuff done but in our experience, letting the design "settle" usually results in the most productive feedback. In terms of showing people the design: Understand and come to terms with the fact that you will not make everyone happy. I have seen owners driver themselves to the brink of insanity trying to please everyone with a design. The design really only needs to work for 50-60% of the gym. Not everyone is going to buy a shirt. That is ok. But it needs to be popular enough to make it worth the effort of running an apparel sale. You will feel when something is an instant no. You will know when something will be an instant hit. Maybe show 2-3 people and that's it. Anything more than that and it becomes a committee and we all know how committees usually work (they don't) :-) .

If you feel like you're stuck or unsure of how to get started or how to streamline the feedback process, simply reach out to your sales rep and let them help you troubleshoot the issue!